As technology progresses increasingly complex and therefore more expensive devices are used in the medical field both for diagnosis and for patient treatment. This is also true in particular of mobile devices, which are not fixed in the examination room—for example by means of gantries, etc.—or which are not so large and heavy, for example like CT or MR devices, that they cannot be easily transported. A typical example of such a particularly expensive, mobile medical device is the increasingly used semiconductor X-ray detector. These devices can be used with a wide variety of X-ray devices, precisely because of their mobility. They can be used there to record X-ray data in digital form and to transmit the image data via a radio interface or when plugged into a base station via a cable connection to an RIS (Radiological Information System) or PACIS (Picture Archiving and Communication Information System). The images can then be further processed at different stations of the RIS or PACIS before being output and/or stored. Because of their high cost and easy transportability, such devices have now become a relatively popular target for criminality to order, with the theft of such specialist medical components being commissioned specifically, in order to sell the devices on in an appropriate black market. Relatively large medical institutions such as hospitals, etc. are particularly vulnerable to such thefts, as it is often easy to enter the examination areas disguised as nursing or maintenance personnel and remove the devices without authorization. Until now such institutions have only been monitored by local or door-based personnel but in many cases it is still easy to smuggle devices out.
Various electronic protection methods are however already available in the medical field.
US 2001/0020148 A1 discloses a method for using transponders to ensure that only authorized accessories can be used on a medical device. There is however no provision for protecting the devices against theft.
GB 2 381 110 A1 discloses a method, in which the location, occupancy and optionally the nature of use of beds or seat units, e.g. wheelchairs, can be controlled by a specialist, central monitoring unit, which can display current status or location. A theft may be discovered at an earlier stage in this manner. To prevent theft however, the central monitoring unit would have to be controlled by security personnel all the time.
WO 2004/008387 A1 also proposes tracking the “life” of medical products, specifically pharmaceutical products, using RIFD tags in their packaging or other containers or instruments such as syringes, catheters etc. and linking the products to specific information, such as date of manufacture, manufacturer, dosage, payment conditions, legal provisions, medical information, etc. This is intended to reduce the risk of incorrect use or even abuse of such products.
There are also monitoring methods to control the location of instruments of instrument parts during use for example using appropriate transponder technologies. For example DE 101 12 303 A1 sets out a method for the wireless detection of the movement of a medical instrument, for example a catheter, inside the body of a patient.
However none of these methods offers effect anti-theft protection for expensive medical devices.